Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Hannes Keseberg: 'You Know Better' (WillJohnson Mix)
#1
Hey Guys!

I've enjoyed mixing the track so far. Tracks I have been working on recently have been pretty effect heavy so I decided to make it pretty dry.

The main issues I had with this so far are:
- Trying to get the snare to come through (I tried using a gate to help it punch but I end up losing most of the ghost notes)
- Getting the Piano and the Guitar separated
- Where to pan things

Would love to hear what you guys think on those points and any other criticisms you have.

Thanks

------

Changes in Rough 02
- Removed pops and clicks
- Reworked the Snare completely
- Altered the EQ on the Drum Buss
- Improved the relationship between the Kick and the Bass
- Rebalanced the Guitar and Keys
- Sent the Guitars via the Vocals Delay/Reverb aux
- Made the gang vocals stereo

------
Changes in Rough 04
- Volume automation on the snare
- Small changes to the MixBuss EQ and Compression
- Printed through a limiter

-----
Changes in Rough 05
- Reduced the highs on the Drum Buss
- Brought back some low mids in the kick and added some high mids
- Increased the parallel compression level on both the Kick and the Snare
- Brought the hi hat down in level
- Brought the Piano and Rhythm Guitar down in level and toned them back a little bit
- Muted some parts in V2
- Edited the whistles, made them louder and increased the reverb send for them
- Added some more vocal automation
- Added a delay tail on the vocals in the silent bit
- Altered the limiter to take account for the changes and brought it up to -14 LUFS

------

Final Mix
- Added some further vocal automation
- Added some multi-band comp to the low end of the bass to sturdy it out a bit more
- Readjusted the limiter to bring it back up to -14 LUFS


.mp3    You Know Better (Rough 01).mp3 --  (Download: 8.45 MB)


.mp3    You Know Better (Rough 02).mp3 --  (Download: 8.71 MB)


.mp3    You Know Better (Rough 04).mp3 --  (Download: 8.71 MB)


.mp3    You Know Better (Rough 05).mp3 --  (Download: 8.42 MB)


.mp3    Hannes Keseberg - You Know Better (WillJohnson Final Mix).mp3 --  (Download: 8.42 MB)


Reply
#2
Hey Will ,
welcome to this awesome site !
I like your version ,some things that come to mind while listening is the guitar playing and piano playing the reggae down beat sounds good and well balanced together but popping out above the rest of the music and slightly above the vocals .
As you mentioned the snare all of the drums could have a Little more air and punch ,I use gates a lot but with this song didn't use them on the drums except for taming some hiss and noise from things like 1176 compressors ect ,the bleed of the snare top and bottom can to be used to your advantage to add some ambience with some eq to bring out the top end like a shelf above 1k for example !
This is one my favourite videos on radical eq .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmMLZ3qQjTQ&t=6s
Hope this helps a little
Nice work Big Grin

Please Help Mike Keep This Awesome Educational Site Alive And Become A patron !
https://www.patreon.com/CambridgeMT/posts

Reply
#3
(08-02-2019, 12:55 PM)thedon Wrote: Hey Will ,
welcome to this awesome site !
I like your version ,some things that come to mind while listening is the guitar playing and piano playing the reggae down beat sounds good and well balanced together but popping out above the rest of the music and slightly above the vocals .
As you mentioned the snare all of the drums could have a Little more air and punch ,I use gates a lot but with this song didn't use them on the drums except for taming some hiss and noise from things like 1176 compressors ect ,the bleed of the snare top and bottom can to be used to your advantage to add some ambience with some eq to bring out the top end like a shelf above 1k for example !
This is one my favourite videos on radical eq .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmMLZ3qQjTQ&t=6s
Hope this helps a little
Nice work Big Grin

Thanks for the feedback! Really appreciate it. I'm glad that you thought the Guitar and Piano were too loud, as I have been thinking that too. Bringing them down might also help the drums feel a bit punchier. I'll spin another mix this weekend!
Reply
#4
Hi willjohnson! Had a listen to the 'Rough 04' version, and you've got a cool new intro idea there, which does a good job of highlighting the appeal of the congas, although I do wonder whether lengthening the intro overall as you've done might be counterproductive in terms of the 'mainstream single' mix brief, because it means the singer only arrives after 20 seconds, and the first chorus only arrives at 1:20. Some other thoughts:
  • The rhythm guitar (and piano) off-beats are very strident in the balance, and distract from the lead vocal and solo guitar interjections, both of which are more musically interesting. The brightness of the rhythm-guitar tone also emphasises the smaller beat subdivisions, making the groove feel a little sluggish.
  • The kick feels a bit flabby and indistinct, and could probably do with a bit more midrange energy so that its rhythmic punctuations cut through the mix.
  • The overall mix tonality could do with less energy in the 2-3kHz zone, based on my impression of the references.
  • Some of the hi-hat transients and Mid-section ride stick noises are rather fierce, and get fatiguing at higher volumes.
  • Pretty decent vocal balancing, although I think you could probably improve lyric transmission with a bit more micro-level automation of the swallowed syllables and some of the consonant-vowel transitions.
  • The arrangement of the first and second verses is pretty much identical, which is encouraging the listener's attention to wander before they reach the chorus.
  • The whistles seem a bit underbalanced during the outro, for such a characterful part.

Hope some of those suggestions are useful -- and I look forward to hearing your final submission version. Smile
Reply
#5
(11-02-2019, 07:54 PM)Mike Senior Wrote: Hi willjohnson! Had a listen to the 'Rough 04' version, and you've got a cool new intro idea there, which does a good job of highlighting the appeal of the congas, although I do wonder whether lengthening the intro overall as you've done might be counterproductive in terms of the 'mainstream single' mix brief, because it means the singer only arrives after 20 seconds, and the first chorus only arrives at 1:20. Some other thoughts:
  • The rhythm guitar (and piano) off-beats are very strident in the balance, and distract from the lead vocal and solo guitar interjections, both of which are more musically interesting. The brightness of the rhythm-guitar tone also emphasises the smaller beat subdivisions, making the groove feel a little sluggish.
  • The kick feels a bit flabby and indistinct, and could probably do with a bit more midrange energy so that its rhythmic punctuations cut through the mix.
  • The overall mix tonality could do with less energy in the 2-3kHz zone, based on my impression of the references.
  • Some of the hi-hat transients and Mid-section ride stick noises are rather fierce, and get fatiguing at higher volumes.
  • Pretty decent vocal balancing, although I think you could probably improve lyric transmission with a bit more micro-level automation of the swallowed syllables and some of the consonant-vowel transitions.
  • The arrangement of the first and second verses is pretty much identical, which is encouraging the listener's attention to wander before they reach the chorus.
  • The whistles seem a bit underbalanced during the outro, for such a characterful part.

Hope some of those suggestions are useful -- and I look forward to hearing your final submission version. Smile

Thanks for the feedback Mike. Really appreciate you taking a listen to the mix and giving me some feedback. Hopefully I'll be able to address these points and a few other bits in time for the deadline!
Reply
#6
Added my final mix. Really enjoyed mixing this track.

Even though this is my final mix, please feel free to leave some feedback.
Reply